Friday October 26th 2007 (Entry was updated on Friday October 26th 2007)

Xerox XC1255

We have 3 of these copiers at work. One had a problem with a dark upper left corner. A little bit of diagnostics showed that the discharge lamp (which is actually 6 lamps on a circuit board) was bad. One of the bulbs had burnt (or burned if you so prefer) out. A call to a copier parts place and I was quoted with $130 for a replacement board. Yikes! Considering the copiers only cost around $400 9 years ago, that's more than it's worth spending on it.

But the problem was a burnt out bulb.. Why not replace just the bulb? Well, for one, they're not marked in any way, so who knows what voltage/wattage they are. Second, turns out they're 6V 100ma meter bulbs, which are not easy to find. I got some regular screw in bulbs from the local Radio Shack and soldered some wires to one. Not very pretty, but functional and only cost $1.58 for two bulbs. Sure beats $130.

So basically I put this here in case someone is searching for info on fixing the discharge lamp in their Xerox XC or Sharp Z series copiers.

I was reading on a forum that I sometimes visit.. and there was a question of "What are the things that tick you off?".

I'm sure there are a lot of things that can tick me off, but the one that that really stands out in my mind are people abusing animals. I've read stories of punks lighting dogs on fire, throwing them off bridges etc. OMG! I don't know what I'd do if I was to witness such an act. I'm pretty sure I'd end up in prison for a long time. One thing's for sure, though, the punk(s) would learn a lesson they'd never forget.. Assuming they ever come out of the coma, that is.

The innards. Pump in the back, input drum and 2-4 band in front of it. Planetary gear on the left, reaction gear sun shell at an angle on top of it. Low/reverse stuff front and center. Output shaft on the right. The low/reverse clutch and piston is still in the case. I'll have to fashion some kind of tool to get that out tonight. Shouldn't be too hard, but it was getting late last night so I left it for now.

The now mostly empty case. You can see the low/reverse clutch in the rear.

Another view, up close. You can see the ridge towards the back of the splines.. That's what's left of them. The flat parts towards the front are supposed to be as tall as the rear parts, maybe even a little taller.

A view from behind.. You're looking at the transmission output shaft. Normally the transfer case would be bolted here, but it's already been removed. Blue parts are the ATV jack. You can kinda see the catalytic converter to the upper right.

1. Transfer case. 2. Front driveshaft. 3. Exhaust pipes. Pardon the mess in the background. It's a pile of spare parts. You can see a cylinder head right above the exhaust pipes.

1. Flex plate (flywheel). 2. Yoke on the front diff again. 3. Exhaust manifold again. You can see the right bank manifold to the right of the engine. 4 and 5. Torsion bars. These are the "springs" for the front suspension. 6. Heat shield to keep the front passenger's feet cool.

Same as above, really.

The 4L60E. Output shaft sticks out the back (front of picture).

1. Torque converter. 2. Transmission case.

Driver's side of transmission. The shaft that sticks out on the lower middle is the selector shaft. This is what the gear selector is connected to.

I've never been much of a fan of General Motors America. After spending some time underneath Red's Blazer, I'm even less of a fan. Who thought putting bellhousing bolts within 1/2 inch of the firewall so you can't get a wrench on it was a good idea?

I've never been one to use gloves while working on cars. I figured I'd lose "the feel", and that they'd just be in the way (get snagged on stuff etc). Well, I bought a set of Mechanix Wear gloves in preparation for working on Red's car. I'm glad I did! While they do get in the way a little here and there (like when trying to get to the bolt that has absolutely no clearance.. see above), and you do lose a little feeling, they also help tremendously to keep your hands in one piece (or two pieces, as it may be). I think I'm a convert!

Thursday October 18th 2007 (Entry was updated on Friday October 19th 2007)

4L60E

Doesn't mean much to you, huh? Well, it's the designation of one of GM's RWD/4WD automatic transmissions. Basically used in anything GM RWD/4WD (trucks, Camaro, Blazer, Jimmy etc) in the 90's and early 2000's.

So what does this mean to me? Well, nothing until yesterday. That's when I went with Red to look at her vehicle. Apparently is was making a noise and "struggling" to shift. As it turns out, it's missing reverse and a couple forward gears. Some research tells me that it's a very high probabilty that the sun shell has broken inside the tranny. A common failure on these trannies until 2002, when GM decided to finally revise the material/design of the part!

So again, you ask, what's this mean to me? Well, being the nice guy that I am, I sort of voluntered to fix it for her. EDIT: Apparently Red practically begged me to do it for her. That involves removing the transmission (a pain, since it's a 4x4 Blazer), taking it apart, replacing broken part(s), reassembling and then finally reinstalling the tranny.

AND WE'RE NOT EVEN DATING ANYMORE!!

Sometimes I think I'm too nice for my own good.. Like when people use me to work on their kitchen.

Wednesday October 17th 2007 (Entry was updated on Wednesday October 17th 2007)

I'm not an anime fan, but this was the only studio version of this song I could find on YouTube.. And I guess the anime stuff isn't bad either. Technically speaking, I guess it's not anime, but rather manga. I digress...

Band Of Horses - Part One

The bottom the earth i have to fall
but you really caught me
you really caught me, dear
at the bottom where I'd fallen.

and slowly dear ask that you dance with me
here with the shades down
lights off

when i didn't know you
and everything i do
done badly

now I'll love you always
even when i say
you distract me.

and sit out tonight in some strange place
if we have no friends here
well i had a few to begin with

to wake next to you in the morning
and good morning to you.
how do you do?
hey, good morning to you!
more covers for you.
sleep soundly dear cause i have to go.

and I'll love you always.
when we leave this place
and drive back to Carolina
and down to Savannah and
stay

Husband for saleMy husband is now for sale. He cooks, he cleans but not at our house. Yells a lot
at whole family. Will not be around when needed. Does not work. Will like to have fun in bed with you. Price neg. Will trade for eggs of flour.

LOL!

Flatbed wenchWas on flatbed truck, I jumped it with a battery and it still worked, needs some wires freshened up though. 150 obo.

Who wouldn't want a battery operated wench? Those wires could be a poking hazard, though!

And your regular selection of almost new cars for $2900. Western Union Moneygram only, of course.

A Man Apart (2003)
Turns out I had already seen this movie before.. It seemed a bit familiar as I was watching it. Apparently it didn't make much of an impression the first time around, though, 'cause I could hardly remember anything about it. So I watched it again. Didn't make much of an impression this time either.

Not a bad action flick, but it needs more action and less sappy stuff.

I haven't really lifted anything heavy at the gym since May or so due to aches and pains (injuries). Last night after doing the usual sets I decided to see if I still had any strength, and loaded the bench press up with 275 lbs (5 off my personal best of 280). I pressed it fairly easily. I added another 20lbs (295 lbs) just to see if I could do it. That's 15 lbs over my personal best, and only 5 lbs off my goal of 300 lbs!

Didn't quite get it, though. Wasn't far off, though. I think if it had been 285 or 290 lbs, I would have made it.

300 lbs by the end of the year seems doable. :o)

Temps are gonna be in the mid 80's all weekend! I'm spending lots of time skiing on the lake!!

Monday October 1st 2007 (Entry was updated on Wednesday October 3rd 2007)

Also saw these two idiots at the launch site. Typical "I'm superior to you" attitude, especially from the guy driving the truck. He was waiting for the boat to arrive for a while, and then he asked me if I would go out and see if I could find him. I said sure, and headed out. Found the boat, and headed back. I told him the boat should be here in a minute or so. Did he say thanks? Of course not. Asshat.

After ignoring the huge sign telling them power loading is illegal, they procede to power load the floating retirement home (pontoon boat). The guy driving the boat gives it too much power, and slams it into the front of the trailer. Then they procede to pull the boat out, and as you can see by the picture, they didn't do such a good job of putting the boat on the trailer.

So they back it into the water again to align it properly this time. Instead of just backing it in far enough to where you could easily move the boat by hand, they back the trailer half way in and then start the boat engine to "power load" it onto the bunks properly (crank the wheel and rev the engine). This doesn't work so well either, so they decide to push and pull on the boat until it's straight, no easy task since the boat is barely in the water.. Backing it in another few feet would have made this task easy as pie. Finally they get it on straight and get out of there.

Watched Cast Away (2000) this weekend also..
I really thought there would be more "cast away", and less mainland. Very average movie, I thought.

Spiderman 3 (2007)
Yawn. What's with surfer dudes as the bad guys that turn good lately? I admit the sandman was kinda neat (as a bad guy), but overall this movie sucked. Please, please, don't let there be any more Spiderman movies!

Red and I went to the Toledo Zoo on Saturday with the kiddies. Had a good time. I think I prefer Binder Park Zoo over the Toledo Zoo, though.

Took the ski out on the lake again yesterday for another troubleshooting session. Was gonna see if I could track down the random stopping issue (since what I did Thursday night didn't solve it). I had an idea that it might be the DESS/lanyard post, so I brought a piece of wire along to short the "key sense" wires together when it started acting up. This worked, so it's definitely the DESS post. A new one has been ordered and should be here in a couple days.

Today's gonna be in the high 80's again, so I'm off to the lake after work again! :o) M said he wants to come along too.

I'm going back to the lake after work. Hoefully I've solved the issues with the ski. I know I solved the water regulator problem. The random dying I don't know yet.. I checked just about every connector in it last night, so we'll see.

In the mean time, I added a tach. Wiring it in wasn't that bad, really. Turns out the computer is already wired for a tach. So all I had to do was open it up and find out which of the 3 or 4 spare wires were the tach. I found it on the first try. Hooked up my multi meter to verify, then started the engine. Yep! This is the end result: